The present invention relates to a tag attacher, and more particularly, to an improved tag attacher usable for applying a tag holding fastener to an article.
The art of tag attachers is well developed and numerous patents have been issued for devices of this type. Briefly, most tag attachers have a pistol-shaped housing with a handle supporting a lever. A hollow needle with a longitudinal slit which exposes the interior of the needle is mounted at the nozzle end of a housing for the tag attacher. A bar supporting a plurality of fasteners is inserted through the top of the tag attacher. Each actuation of the lever results in one fastener being pushed through the needle into the article and in another fastener being positioned against the needle.
Typically, the needle is inserted through a garment and the lever is actuated. Each fastener has a lateral bar which is positioned coaxially behind the needle. The lateral bar is pushed by a driving rod of the tag attacher through the hollow needle and emerges on the underside of the garment. The fastener remains locked when the needle is withdrawn. The other end of the fastener supports a tag displaying price, quality or other information.
Among the patents issued for tag attachers is U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,788 to Furutu. Furutu's tag attacher includes a gear for advancing the fasteners through the tag attacher; a stopper for constraining the gear to rotate in one direction only; a driving rod for pushing each fastener through the needle and first and second levers which are operable for reciprocatingly moving the driving rod as well as for advancing the gear one notch at a time. Furutu discloses a rather complicated gear advancing mechanism which includes a pawl that reciprocates generally transversely to the travel direction of the driving rod, a sliding rod which moves generally parallel to the driving rod and a cam for translating the horizontally directed movement of the sliding rod into the vertically directed movement of the gear advancing pawl.
Another similar tag attacher is shown in Furutu's U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,682 which adds an improved cutting mechanism for cutting sections from a connecting bar which holds the fasteners together. The cutting mechanism also secures and separates the individual fasteners from the connecting bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,435 to Bone shows a tag attacher, not of the familiar pistol shape, but including fastener advancing gear and a unique sickle-shaped pawl for advancing the gear one tooth at a time. The pawl is actuated by a sliding bar which moves substantially parallel to the direction of a driving bar or plunger which pushes the fasteners through a needle.
Yet another tag attacher is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,407 to Bone which is pistol-shaped and which operates in a manner similar to the previous tag attacher but includes a horizontally movable sliding bar for actuating the pawl which in turn advances the gear.
Another tag attacher is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,555 to Jenkins. Again, the tagger requires a horizontally movable sliding bar for effecting movement of the gear.
Other patents relating to the subject matter of the present invention include:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Date ______________________________________ 4,179,063 Russell 12/18/79 3,906,611 Merser 09/23/75 3,103,666 Bone 09/17/63 3,650,451 Weiland et al. 03/21/72 3,888,402 Bone 06/10/75 3,893,612 Bone 07/08/75 4,938,078 Bone 08/02/77 4,049,174 Hamisch, Sr. 09/20/77 4,049,175 Hamisch, Sr. 09/20/77 4,049,176 Jenkins 09/20/77 4,049,178 Strausburg 09/20/77 4,049,179 Strausburg 09/20/77 4,121,487 Bone 10/24/78 4,125,215 Jenkins 11/14/78 4,367,834 Lozio 01/11/83 4,402,446 Suzuki 09/06/83 3,650,452 Finke 03/21/72 3,652,004 Lozio 03/28/72 3,734,375 Bone et al. 05/22/73 3,735,908 Kinney et al. 05/29/83 3,880,339 Bone 04/29/75 3,895,753 Bone 07/22/75 3,901,428 Grass 08/26/75 3,971,498 Bussard 07/27/76 ______________________________________
In addition to the foregoing, which generally use a horizontally movable sliding bar for advancing the gear, another tag attacher is known which does not use such a sliding bar in connection with the gear advancing mechanism. The gear is advanced by a vertically oriented arm which is resiliently biased against the gear by a spring which is, in turn, anchored against a wall in the housing for the tag attacher. The vertical arm is pulled up and down by a horizontally disposed piece which pivots in response to actuation of the lever contained in the handle to thereby reciprocate the vertical arm up and down to cause gear advancement. The tag attacher that is being described herein has been distributed several years ago by a foreign distributor and bears a mark SERGATEX.
As noted previously, the art of tag attachers is well developed. Competition in this field is keen and tag attachers which can be manufactured for well under $10.00 must be as simple and as reliable as possible to remain competitive. To date, all known tag attachers contain numerous parts including springs which renders assembly and repair of such tag attacher difficult. Internal parts tend to scatter in all directions when the gun is opened and the greater part count makes the tag attachers more expensive. Tag attacher designers constantly strive to reduce the part count and to simplify the mechanism in the tag attachers.